There had been talk of Zetterberg flying home today, but that was scuttled in favor of being able to fly directly from Sochi to Newark, New Jersey, followed by short flight to Detroit.

Zetterberg, the captain of Team Sweden, pulled out of the Sochi Games last Friday after suffering a herniated disk. Wings general manager Ken Holland has been in daily contact with Zetterberg, one of 10 players the Wings have at the Olympics.

Zetterberg and Pavel Datsyuk, captain of Team Russia, are the most high-profile Wings at the Games. Datsyuk came into the tournament playing on an inflamed knee, but has shown marked improvement since barely being able to skate last week.

The Wings return to action a week from Wednesday. Zetterberg most certainly won't be available -- he is to see a specialist as soon as possible to determine if surgery is needed now or can wait -- and Holland is confident Datsyuk will be as big a factor for the Wings as he has been for Russia. Holland, in Sochi as part of Team Canada's management group, said he won't be against NHLers appearing at Olympics.

"My take is, it's a great stage to showcase our players," he said today. "The USA-Russia game drew tremendous numbers back in the U.S. It's best on best.

"The injury to Henrik, really in my opinion, had nothing to do with Olympics. It's been an issue that set in in December, which he worked hard to overcome. Whether in the Olympics or NHL, it probably would have been the same situation.

"In 2002, Stevie Yzerman played in the Olympics, didn't play another game for us, then helped us win the Stanley Cup. I'm not going to sit here and judge our players. With Pavel, he has been a warrior for us since he showed up in 2001. I'm not sure where we'd be without him. He knows his body better than anybody, and I think he's earned the right to make the decision based on how his body feels."

NOTEBOOK: Holland said he has been in contact with Detroit trainer Piet Van Zant regarding the health of a couple of players. Johan Franzen (concussion) and Stephen Weiss (sports hernia) are both doing well, and the Wings are debating having Weiss play a couple of games with Grand Rapids this weekend. Regarding Franzen, the hope is he's able to practice later this week.

Contact Helene St. James: hstjames@freepress.com. Follow her on Twitter @helenestjames.